Top DIY home design and planning apps for remodeling

What better way to plan for a home renovation project than with your smartphone?

Why mess about with notepads and documents when these apps can help you keep all your inspiration and design ideas in one place on one device? If you’re out shopping for materials or furniture, you can pull out your phone and check the relevant app where you’ve saved your plans or ideas.

We’ve looked at the apps available for planning and completing your home renovation and found the 10 most popular for both iOS and Android.

Top renovation planning apps

Home Design 3D

This app allows you to plan out your future home or the renovation of your current home with 2D and 3D plans. Gold version for iOS gives you full access to all features for $9.99. Some features are only available with the paid version.

Features

• Import plans
• Work in 3D or 2D
• Share via Dropbox
• Add and move furniture

Room Planner LE Home Design

Map out and plan your next home or that room you’ve always wanted to change. Measure rooms precisely to ⅛ of an inch with in-app Bluetooth laser measuring. Note: LE version doesn’t save.

Roomle

With augmented reality view and 3D walkthrough, Roomle is the future of floor-planning apps. Award-winning design app with access to hundreds of pieces of furniture and decorative items.

Features

• Sketch using your finger
• Precisely adjust angles and dimensions
• Share your designs
• Augmented reality view

Photo Measures

Save time and paper by taking photos of your rooms and annotating notes to the images with dimensions. Now you can always have your room measurements with you when you’re furniture shopping. Free version will watermark images when saved.

Features

• Draw measurements on your photos
• Edit anytime
• Zoom in and out for precision
• Add comments for more info
• Export to PDF or JPG

MagicPlan

Create a map of your home with measurements and angles just by taking pictures. Comes with the option to export to various programs. Smart device must have a gyroscope for auto measures to work.

Features

• No need to measure
• Move furniture digitally before committing
• Simple to use for DIY enthusiasts

Home Design 3D Outdoor and Garden

Design and build your dream garden and outdoor entertaining area. With 3D viewability, you can get a more realistic image of your vision.

Features

• Design your dream outdoor area in minutes
• Use the exact dimensions of your outdoor area
• Cancel and restore design ideas

Planner 5D

Create beautiful and realistic plans for your home or for that room you want to update. You can choose the interior items that you want in the room and plan the design. iOS also has Bathroom Design 5D, Kitchen Design 5D, Bedroom Design 5D, Kids Room Design 5D and Office Design 5D.

Features

• View and make screenshots in 2D as well as realistic 3D HD
• Share your designs with your social media contacts for feedback
• Alter a plan from the gallery or start from scratch to make it more personal

Planning apps – comparison table

App	Free	In-App Purchases	Buy Now Ratings
Home Design 3D			Android – 4.4 iOS – 4.4
Room Planner LE Home Design			Android – 3.4 iOS – 2.7
Roomle			Android – 2.9 iOS – 3.7
Photo Measures			Android – 4.3 iOS – 4.5
MagicPlan			Android – 4.2 iOS – 4.6
Home Design 3D Outdoor and Garden			Android – 4.1 iOS – 2.7
Planner 5D			Android – 4 iOS – 3.3

Interior design apps

If you’re looking for some interior design inspiration after you’ve completed that home renovation, these are two of the many apps available.

Houzz Interior Design Ideas

If you’re looking for inspiration or want to redesign your entire home, Houzz has plenty of options. It also comes with prices, so it’s easy to budget.

Homestyler Interior Design

Place design items and styles in your home before you commit. Use Homestyler as your fitting room for design ideas and find inspiration from the many user-created pics available.

Interior design apps – comparison table

App	Free	In-app Purchases	Buy Now Ratings
Houzz Interior Designs Ideas			Android – 4.6 iOS – 4.8
Homestyler Interior Design			Android – 4.1 iOS – 4.3

Read all about home renovations

Special mention apps

Some of the great apps out there are sometimes only available in either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Here are some we found.

RoomScan Pro LE Home Design (iOS)

The quickest and simplest way to create your home floor plan. Just tap your iPhone on each wall a few times and it will measure and draw it all itself.

Floor Plan Creator (Android)

Create your floor plan with ease and include furniture to make sure it fits. Have your designs and plans with you when you shop to check sizing and placement.

Handyman Calculator (Android)

The app that has all the calculations a DIY handyman would need. Also includes a time tracker so you can tell if you’ll get your job done within a planned time frame.

HandyMobi home improvement DIY (Android)

Plan, organize and implement that home DIY project you have been wanting to do. Includes a shopping list so you can know what you need when shopping for materials.

Handy Construction Calculator (Android)

Accurate and easy-to-use construction calculator. Total of 70+ calculators that can be used by professionals and DIY enthusiasts.

Special mention apps – comparison table

App	Free	Paid	In-App Purchases	Ratings
RoomScan Pro (iOS)				4.3
Floor Plan Creator (Android)				4.1
Handyman Calculator (Android)				4.5
Handy Mobi home improvement DIY (Android)				3.5
Handy Construction Calculator (Android)		$7.99		4.4